Earthquakes- what can be done to prevent further damage. PAKISTAN observes the 1st Anniv of last yr quake?

Question

8th Oct 2005 was the day when a hi-intensity quake of magnitude 7.2 jolted the northern areas of Pakistan incl the Islamabad Capital Territory, Azad Kashmir and Northern Areas. More than 55000 people died and about 2000 still remain unknown. This was rated by many as the worst disaster to strike Pakistan after independence and was the worst natural disaster exceeding in magnitude the Quetta quake that striked in 1930 before indep. & took the lives of around 30,000 ppl.

Albeit the Earthquake Relief and Rehabilitation Authority was formed shortly, it still has to go a long way to bring the affected ppl to their normal lives again- many still await their financial assist. from the govt and NGOs & many others still do not have a proper shelter..

No matter how much you dislike pakistan or its people due to any personal or other reason what do you - being as neutral as you can be- think of this tragedy and what steps you think can be taken to avoid such calamities in world as a whole?

Answer 1

Dear friend, If we know by some symptoms like changes in the behaviors of animals, changes in the nature , sound emanated under earth, seismic gape method some time we may be able to predict the occurrence of earthquakes. But not at all the times. You can take some precautionary measure to advice how people should behave during earthquake.
Before .Find what are the safe places inside your house or according the distance of probable epicenter and the height and location of your building you can decide to reach open ground or to a safer place in your house.
During.During earthquake don’t panic. Stay politely in a safe place. Under inside doorways or under a hard table or under a cot by keeping some pillows on your head.
After .Don’t rush to move back to your normal place until you are shore that there may not be any re occurrence of earthquake. Have battery operated radio and torch light with you. After the shaking is stopped stay away from seashore and water fronts where Tsunami may strike long after the shaking is stooped. To know more about this visit my slide show at
http://asia.pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/quake... For you information I am the man issued the Tsunami warning 2 hours before Tsunami struck our Indian coast as it was ignored we lost the life of several thousand innocents. For further details you are welcome to contact me at my E Mail :- [e-mail]

Answer 2

We must realise that natural disasters can occur at any time so one must learn to live with them. To simply move away from fault lines is not a feasible option. It should also be noted that this particular earthquake was of an unusual intensity, my relatives who live in the Lahore region felt some tremors. From my experience of visiting Pakistan there are several sensible things that can be done.

The first is a tightening up of building regulations. I am not sure if the building regulations are of a suitable standard as to avoid collapsing during an earthquake but I have seen many buildings that seem to be built to a substandard quality. Construction materials are for the most part usually stone, and no machinery or modern building techniques are employed during construction.

Planning laws seem to be lax. Usually If someone wants to build they will simply build, with no consultation with the authorities and little acknowledgment of planning rules. Also, should this occur the authorities will not intervene. I think this is absurd.

With reference to the mountainous area in the north of the country I feel that access to towns and villages was severely disrupted, further adding to the death toll. I think this was unavoidable as large swathes of mountains and hills literally collapsed, therefore blocking access. The only solution would be to invest in the Pakistani Air Force, enabling them with more helicopters.

Also, corruption is rife in Pakistan. It is notoriously difficult for an honest person to even get any planning permission for a project in the first place. The authorities will usually require some sort of bribe to speed up the planning process to an acceptable level, money which few have.

Finally, I think the general thinking of the average Pakistani needs to be addressed. A person will do as they please, therefore little co-ordination is possible. Although unrelated this is evident from the driving culture, people have little regard for other road users.

As I said earlier, I am very fond of Pakistan and visit from time to time but I really do think that the problems I have outlined above are genuine. The solution must begin with the top, General Musharraf, who I think will wholeheartedly solve the problems of the country. I just wish more could be done about corruption.

Answer 3

Hey, if there is a fault line there, they should move people away from it. That is, if they want to save them.